Ron turned to look at her. “You okay?”
Katie forced a smile. “As fine as I can be, considering I let you talk me into this in the first place. You know how I feel about working for athletes.”
“You don’t know what it’s like to work with an athlete. You dated Joey, you didn’t work for him.” His expression held just a hint of reprimand.
Katie’s lips tightened. “I saw how he treated the people who worked for him, and I don’t want any part of being a doormat for some overinflated ego.”
“Joey Martin was and is a great quarterback, but he’s also a crummy person and a lousy friend. I know this and you know this. I took his abuse professionally—you took it personally. But one bad relationship with an athlete should not make you pass up good business opportunities with another. Replacing Joey with Luke as a client was one of my best decisions ever. He’s the top pitcher in the game of baseball, yet he’s as down-to-earth as they come. Give him a chance, Katie.”
“I have no trouble getting clients,” Katie clarified for him, and it was the truth. She worked mainly on the road, doing security for the music industry, having once been a dancer for one of the it singers of the decade, until she blew out her knee. But with a cop for a father, she’d been drawn to security, and learned all the ins and outs. One day, she and her father had planned to open Lyons Security and cater to high-end clientele…only her father hadn’t lived to see their dream fulfilled. He and her mother had died in a car accident three years before. While Carrie had been a senior in college.
“I’m proud of you and how well your business has done. But how many of those jobs pay what I have offered?”
Katie frowned. “Ron,” she said with an apology in her voice. “I owe you for a lot of moral support in the past. I don’t want you to think the money is the only reason I’m here.”
He smiled, his expression softening. He had always been like a second father to her. It’s why she had even told him about Carrie. If it had been anyone else, she would have kept it private.
“I don’t think that,” he reassured her. “But I do know you need the money, so it helped me get you here. Now, let’s proceed with the introductions, shall we?”
“A file and a rundown on his security system would be nice.”
“Tomorrow,” he said. “It’s late. You just got here. The introduction is the most important thing tonight.”
Katie nodded and followed Ron into a large, dimly lit room with a full bar against one wall. She caught her first glimpse of Luke as he stood behind the bar.
And damn if her stomach didn’t flip-flop. Even her mouth went dry. Her reaction was over-the-top, and not at all expected.
He was sexy as hell and exactly the kind of guy Katie had sworn off years before. With determination, she pushed her instant attraction to him out of her mind. One run-in with a professional athlete was enough to last a lifetime, thank you very much.
Even taller than she had pictured, he was a dominating figure, towering well over the top of the bar. His broad, dark good looks were far more devastating to the female senses, at least hers, in person than they were on television or in magazines.
Ron, a black man who looked more like a linebacker than like Luke’s manager, walked toward the bar, smiling at Luke as he did.
He positioned himself on a bar stool and motioned Katie forward. “Come meet Luke.”
“Yes,” Luke said in a voice that almost seemed to taunt. Then he added, “Come meet Luke.”
Okay. That, most definitely, was a taunt.
At least his personality wasn’t going to draw her the way his features did. “Don’t have to,” she mumbled to herself. “Met one arrogant athlete, met ’em all.”
“What?” Ron asked.
Katie smiled at Ron, her lips tight, her muscles tense. “Nothing.”
“Nothing she wants to repeat,” Luke said, drawing her attention. Then he winked at her.
Katie frowned, still standing just inside the doorway, her feet seemingly cemented to the floor. For some reason she was reluctant to move forward, as if she were entering the lion’s den. Had the lion himself heard her from clear across the room?
Surely not. Yet…the look on Luke’s face said yes. Not that she cared. Let him hear. They needed to establish right up front that she wasn’t a rug to be walked on.
When she spoke again, she made sure he heard her. “Smarter than the average athlete. Point for you.”
He laughed. “Good. I like being on top.”
Her eyes narrowed as she scrutinized him. Was there a double meaning to his words? His eyebrow inched up as if he knew what she was thinking and dared her to say it out loud. Which made her wonder if her mind was that dirty, and she’d taken his words out of context…or was he trying to get her to second-guess herself?
“Luke is a lot of things, but average isn’t one of them,” Ron said to Katie, drawing her attention as he patted the bar stool. “Come join us.”
Katie didn’t look at Luke. Didn’t have to. She could feel him gloating across the room. His attitude, even from a distance, was a prime example of why she didn’t like working with athletes. They were all jerks.
Already she knew Luke Winter had an exceptional knack for pushing her buttons. No, she most definitely did not like working with athletes.
And no way was she going to be attracted to Luke Winter. So her body reacting like this made no sense. No way was she getting involved with another athlete. She would do this job and then be gone. Luke Winter could not get to her. It was impossible. Squaring her shoulders, a look of determination in her eyes, she stepped forward.
She advanced toward the offered seat. “Good,” she said to Ron, and despite the fact that she was talking about Luke, she didn’t look at him. “Average athletes don’t know how to follow directions. I’ll need Mr. Winter to do as I say.”
Luke laughed. “Oh, now, darlin’, I’m sure we can work something out. If you ask me just right, I’ll do about anything.”
That stopped her in her tracks. Slowly, her gaze moved to his. “Mr. Winter…”
“Luke,” he corrected. “Call me Luke. I plan to call you Katie.”
Katie kept her expression impassive.
But just barely.
She wasn’t about to get sucked into whatever game this man was trying to play. She started forward again, even as she met Luke’s piercing gaze. There was something intimate about the way he looked at her, his eyes lingering on her features in a slow, thorough inspection.
His scrutiny was keen and far too probing, as if he were seeing well below the surface. It set her on edge, made her feel off center. Each step forward came slowly and took extra effort.
With irritation, she realized she was holding her breath. She immediately forced herself to exhale, slowly allowing the air to trickle through her lips.
Ron was talking, and she tried to focus on what he was saying. Not quite at the bar, she drew to a halt, still struggling to absorb Luke’s words.
“Katie and I go way back,” Ron commented. “I trust her as a person, and her company is considered top-notch. She’s provided security for some big names. People who tend to draw the type of problem you are having. This won’t be her first stalker.”
Katie’s eyes flickered from Ron back to Luke as she settled her hands on the back of the bar stool. Their eyes locked and held, almost squaring off in silent battle.
“No,” she said to